News, reviews and think pieces about dance and performance art for aficionados and newcomers by long-time national and local critic.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..

Martha Graham Dance Company

It’s not often that Seattle audiences get to see two first-rate, internationally-recognized dance companies back to back but this week afforded just such a chance. Sankai Juku was here for one night only with another of its riveting productions while the Martha Graham Dance Company, which opened on Thursday night, appears through Saturday in a not-to-be-missed retrospective of Graham’s work.

Martha Graham’s “Prelude.” Photo by Costas.

Anyone – like me – expecting a dark and somber Martha Graham evening will be pleasantly surprised by the upbeat nature of the production that Graham Center Artistic Director Janet Eilber has put together. Its lecture-dem format, which serves to show us Graham’s development as an artist, provides revelations not only for those unfamiliar with her work (although it’s hard to believe that anyone attending a dance concert falls into that category) but even for fans who followed her trajectory closely. It’s also gratifying to see Eilber keeping the Graham legacy alive in a vibrant way and continuing to attract talented dancers who have the emotional and physical energy that Graham’s work demands.

Throughout the performance, Eilber’s jaunty narrative underscores Graham’s stunning innovations in technique, staging and content. From Graham’s beginnings as a dancer with the Denishawn Company in the early 1920′s to the astonishing final work she created in 1990 when she was 96 years old, Graham continued to change in response to world events and the creative forces around her. Eilber skillfully weaves personal details about Graham’s life and career with brief explanations of how the dance works on display demonstrate Graham’s unique approach to theater and movement.

The program begins with short works created by Denishawn’s directors Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn then moves through an early Graham’s effort to create her own aesthetic, still grounded in the exotic, glamorous Denishawn style. By the time we get to the groundbreaking Lamentation, which Graham choreographed in 1930, it was clear she had developed a new way of using the body, based on the contraction and release of muscles, and of conveying deep and dramatic emotion. In this production, we are treated to Lamentation twice, once performed live by a member of the current Graham Company and again in film excerpts of Graham performing it.

It’s a testament to the power of this solo that its impact transcends an individual performer, whether that’s Graham herself, current company member Katherine Crockett or a member of the UW Chamber Dance Company, which performed the work several years ago. The lone figure in Lamentation, encased in a full-body stretch fabric, writhes in excruciating psychic pain and it is impossible to see this work without being completely captivated both by the visual imagery and the intensity of the feeling that it elicits in the dancer and the viewer.

Also on the program are Steps in the Street and Prelude to Action, sections of a longer 1936 dance that Graham created in response to the rise of fascism in Europe. Both contain signature Graham elements – convoluted body postures, an ensemble leaping in unison across the stage, flowing long dresses and fierce emotional intensity – that the current crop of Graham dancers manages to capture despite the fact that Graham has been gone almost 20 years. The only criticism of these excerpts is that the narrative theme, so obvious in the full-length piece, is largely lost. Fortunately, the movement is interesting enough in its own right that the two dances still captivate.

Martha Graham’s “Maple Leaf Rag.” Photo by Costas.

The biggest revelation on the program is the last piece, Maple Leaf Rag, which Graham created less than a year before her death. It’s an athletic, madcap romp in which Graham’s sly sense of humor is on full display. Besides flinging her dancers every which way, she makes playful use of a wobbly wooden bar that looks like it will collapse at any moment under the weight of the dancers who jump, sit and roll over on it. Maple Leaf Rag also shows Graham making fun of herself and her more exaggerated and stereotypical movements and as the evening’s closer, it sends us out of the theater with a smile in our hearts and a bounce in our step.

The only disappointment of the evening is the three short Lamentation Variations created by contemporary choreographers Richard Move, Larry Keigwin and Bulareyaung Pagarlava. Eilber conceived this work in 2007 to commemorate the anniversary of 9/11 and commissioned the three to create movement studies based on their reaction to Graham’s Lamentation. Suffice it to say that all three pale in comparison to Graham’s masterpiece and seem an unnecessary diversion in an otherwise stunning tribute to Martha Graham’s genius.

Note: This is a seattlepi.com reader blog. It is not written or edited by the P-I. The authors are solely responsible for content. E-mail us at newmedia@seattlepi.com if you consider a post inappropriate..